


Food Worthy of Kings

by Firebull



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Food, Gen, Original Character(s), Slice of Life, YuGiOh! Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 12:37:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17244323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firebull/pseuds/Firebull
Summary: After spending the first half of the day with carrying furniture into their new shared place in Neo Domino, the boys are hungry. Jack knows a perfect place for lunch.





	Food Worthy of Kings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kiite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiite/gifts).



> Sorry it took a bit longer, but here you have the 3 amigos just being exited about some great food!
> 
> Note: I got no idea what ramen restaurants in Japan are like. This is entirely based on my experiences I had of them here in Germany.

Jack, Crow and Yusei were relaxing after unpacking the last of the boxes of their move into their new apartment/garage they mostly only got because the landlady was weak to Yusei's usage of big blue puppy eyes. Honestly, none of them expected to ever live together again after what happened, but here they were. Their bonds slowly smoothing over, though the scars and hurt will need more time to fully fade.

"We should eat something," Jack declared from his place on a couch he had refused to carry.

"Only problem is that we have no food in the fridge yet and I have no idea where any good places for take out are or if they'd serve me in the first place," Crow said.

For a moment everything was quiet again before any hope of peace and quite was brutally murdered by Jack standing up, fire burning in his eyes as he looked down on them.

"Do you plan on lying there all day? Get on your D-Wheels we got places to be!"

"Really? Like where?"

"You'll see. Just follow me." With that Jack walked over to his D-Wheel. 

Crow looked at Yusei who just shrugged and made his way to his D-Wheel, leaving Crow no choice but to do the same.

They followed Jack through the winding roads of the streets bellow the highways getting an upgrade for speed dueling and right into a building that appeared to be part of a 2 level parking garage with a restaurant on top of it. They had to get parking tickets from a machine under the watchful gaze of a guard that had nodded at Jack when he first saw him.

Jack lead them to the second level, to a few open spots right next to a heavy looking door. On the door was a ramen sticker with an upwards pointing arrow beside it. He was the first off his D-Wheel and tabbed his foot impatiently as he waited for them to lock their D-Wheels up.

With a dramatically forceful push, Jack opened the door causing it to crash loudly against the wall, before he walked up the narrow staircase to the next level where he did the same to the next door. Only behind that door waited another set of doors. These ones were seemingly made out of wood and decorated with anime chibis eating ramen. 

Jack opened them like a normal person and the 3 found themselves in the entryway of a ramen restaurant. The ramen bar in the front was fully occupied though Crow could see people walking through hallway that lead further inside. One wall held a glass case with anime figures and stylized figures of famous duelists that Crow either forgot the names of or didn't recognize.

"Jack, it's good seeing you again! We missed you the last couple of weeks," a middle aged man greeted from behind the counter.

"I've been busy."

"So we heard! We're just glad one of our favorite customers is still in one piece. Now, who are those two? You never brought anyone with you before other than that blue shadow of yours."

"The short one is Crow and the slightly less short one is Yusei. I'm sure you heard of him."

"Ah, yes _that_ Yusei. The talk of the city, other than...you know.” He gestures vaguely with his hands which really was the best way to describe everything that had happened in the last few weeks. “So they're friends of yours?"

"Yes," Jack said with a strong conviction that surprised Crow in its intensity.

"It's nice to meet friends of Jack. It's good to know that there are more people out there who truly care for him."

"It's nice to meet you too…" Yusei started, but trailed off when he realized he didn't know the name of the man in front of them.

"Did I forget to introduce myself? How rude of me. I'm Suimono, I own the place."

"You got any free tables or are you full right now?"

“There are still a couple of free ones in the back. Go ahead, I'll be with you shortly.”

Jack lead them past the bar and a few occupied couple tables, down the narrow hallway that was made even narrower by having the doors to the kitchen on one side and a row of simple chairs on the other side arranged as some sort of waiting area. Only once they exited it could they see just how big it really was. There were tables everywhere. Big group tables with benches took up one side of the room while smaller tables, some with benches but most with chairs, were on the other side. The walls were made up to look like traditional sliding doors. 

Seated at the tables were the most diverse crowd they've seen since the reunion of Satellite and Neo Domino so far. There were people who were clearly Tops residents, along with middleclass families and marked Satellites. At one group table a group of suits and a group of marked punks had obviously fused into one at some point while at another an elderly woman showed off vacation pictures to a very impressed group of duel academy students.

Jack lead them to one of the smaller tables with benches. Jack took up one side alone while Yusei and Crow shared. It didn't take long for Suimono to appear with 2 menus. He gave one to each Yusei and Crow while Jack sat back with his arms crossed. Without any further comment, he made his way to a small family slowly getting dressed.

Yusei blinked at the menu. "So many flavours. Some of which I've never seen as instant."

Jack looked smug.

Crow narrowed his eyes as he stared at the prices. "But even so, demanding that much money for a small bo-"

Crow's eyes widened as he saw the size of the bowls carried past them to one of the bigger group tables. There had to be enough soup for at least two to three instant ramen! Plus, it had fresh meat and seaweed sticking out on one side. And the _smell_. With new enthusiasm Crow read through the menu once more.

After a while Yusei put down the menu and let his eyes drift over the other people in the restaurant. It was rare to see both marked and unmarked people coexist so peacefully. The lift of the ban was still fresh yet many places still refused to serve Satellites and marked on principle. But this here? This was like a little sample of what the future might look like. Yusei smiled. He looked forward to living it.

Next to him Crow was still fretting over the menu when Suimono returned.

"Are you ready to order? I can just take your drinks now and come back later," Suimono suggested for Crow's benefit.

"No, no, it's fine," Crow said like a lair. "I'll uhh... I'll take the shoyu ramen. With green tea."

“Which green tea would you like? We have 5...” At Crow's scared expression, he backpedaled. “Never mind, I'll just...go with the cheapest one...?” Crow nodded.

"I'll take the tonkotsu ramen and a glass of milk please."

"The usual."

Suimono didn't even bother to write down whatever Jack ordered and proceeded to collect the menus. Just how many times did Jack come here?

“I'll be back with your drinks shortly,” Suimono announced before taking his leave.

Crow looked after him for a moment, his mind still spinning with ramen options. He shook his head and looked at Jack. Intend on asking the question that had been on his mind ever since he saw just how many turns one needed to take to even get here. "How'd you find this place anyway?"

"I was out driving because I didn't want to deal with Goodwin that day and his watchdogs had an too easy time following me when I kept it to the busier places. I took some turns and eventually landed here."

"But Goodwin had eyes everywhere…" Yusei said, still remembering all too well how he couldn't take a single step without someone following him when he came to Neo Domino.

Jack nodded. "Of course he knew where I was, but we came to the compromise that I could come here whenever I liked without long lectures as long as I allowed Mikage to follow me without making too many problems."

"So that's what he meant by blue shadow," Crow muttered to himself.

Yusei let his eyes slide over the room again, taking in the atmosphere. "It reminds me of home," he said. 

Home. Martha's orphanage where everyone was welcome, no matter who they were born as as long as they were decent, hard working people. The place where they grew up in and forged their brotherly bonds that didn't break completely, no matter how hard Jack had damaged them in his attempts to rise to the title he thought he deserved more than anyone.

Now years later, Yusei held the title he had given up everything for, the title that Yusei only fought for to keep everything he loved, everything that Jack had thrown away, safe. Crow had mostly joined them because he hoped to find better work on this side so he could take better care of the kids he took under his wing.

"Yeah, me too," Jack admitted.

Suimono arrived at their table holding a tray with their drinks in one hand and a plate in the other. He placed the plate between them, revealing the meal on it to be gyoza, before he started handling out their drinks.

"Ah, but we didn't…" Crow started to protest.

"This one's on the house for the special occasion of Jack bringing friends with him," Suimono said with a wink.

"If you say so..." Crow trailed off, as Suimono left them again.

"Shut up and eat the gyoza, Crow," Jack said while pouring soy sauce into the small dish that came with it.

There were 4 gyoza for each of them, neatly presented in 3 rows. They all grabbed their chopsticks, picking up their first pieces and dipping them in soy sauce, before taking the first bite. The dough had been fried to the perfect mix between crispy and soft while the juicy meat filling had them humming happily. 

“Do they deliver? Or allow take out? These would be perfect after a long day of work every once in a while,” Yusei said.

“They don't deliver, but they did let me order some gyoza and wantan to take back multiple times.”

"Sounds good to me."Jack hummed in agreement. It didn't take long for them to finish the gyoza. They were busing themselves with their drinks when Suimono appeared carrying 3 big bowls on small trays. 

"Here you go. One shoyu, one tonkotsu and one chanpon with extra noodles," he said as he put the bowls down. He picked up the now empty plate to make some more room for them. "I'll be around if you need anything. Enjoy!" With that he walked away once more.

Both Yusei and Crow had a hard time looking away from the...mountain in Jack's bowl. The only things they could really make out were some of the noodles, some vegetables and the shrimp on top of them, everything else was buried somewhere in there.

"What?" Jack asked.

They turned their gazes to their own bowls. "Nothing."

Crow's looked rather simple with a dark broth that brought out the light noodles with some nori and chashu on the sides of the bowl. Yusei's was light in colour, but not transparent. The only thing visible on the surface was a little hill of vegetables and his own portion of chashu peeking out on the side.

Both Crow and Yusei took the first slip of their broths. The well seasoned soup tickled their taste buds and warmed them up.

"This tastes great!" Crow said and turned to Yusei who was chewing on some vegetables. "Hey, can I try yours?"

"Sure, go ahead," Yusei said while pushing his bowl closer to Crow.

"Ah, yours tastes great too!"

Yusei took the opportunity to taste some of the shoyu broth. "Agreed."

Both of them turned to Jack expectantly. He sighed and pushed his bowl over to them, allowing them to get a better angle at the mountain of noodles and shrimp. "Go on, you can even have one shrimp each," Jack said impatiently.

"Really? Well, I won't say no too that!"They each scooped up a shrimp and some soup with their spoons, carefully guiding them to their mouths while holding a hand underneath them. With one single bite they were gone, Yusei and Crow happily chewing on them.

"They all taste great," Yusei finalized. Crow nodded in agreement. Jack just ate a shrimp. Now the only thing left to taste were...

"I wonder about the noodles…" Crow said as he picked up some of them. He leaned over the bowl to not spill anything and started eating. 

The noodles weren't too oily, nor were they floury. They weren't too hard, nor were they too soft. They were perfect.

"Ah! These are excellent as well!" Crow exclaimed as soon as he could. 

“Of course the food excellent! It is worthy of a king!” Jack said, shoving another shrimp into his mouth.

Crow didn't bother to argue that one. Why would he? Jack was right this time.

They spend the rest of the meal in silence, giving their full attention to savoring their ramen.

Jack slipped his fancy tea, looking all prim and proper and not like he just ate a mountain of food. Crow pat his full stomach. He couldn't really remember the last time he had a meal that was both as filling and tasty as this one had been. 

Yusei eyed what was left in his bowl, carefully calculating if eating the rest would be too much for his stomach and make him sick or if it would be just the right amount. In the end he decided not to chance it. 

Crow noticed. “You're not gonna eat that?”

Yusei shook his head. “No, you can have it,” he said as he pushed to bowl over to Crow.

“Thank you~”

Jack ignored the way that Crow devoured Yusei's leftovers in order to catch Suimono's eyes. With a simple gesture he signed that they were done. Suikomo nodded and made his way to the front to ring them up.

He went to take another slip of tea, but had to notice that there wasn't any left. Setting the cup down, he looked at the other two to find that they finished up as well. Jack glanced around the room. It had gotten full while they where busy eating. There where no more free tables and even half of the chairs in the hallway were occupied.

"Let's pay and get out of here. Others are already waiting," he said as he stood up.

Crow looked down the narrow hallway. "Yeah, I guess it got rather full, huh?"

Yusei and Crow followed Jack back to the front, past a group of 4 that moved from the waiting area to the newly free table as fast as they could. They found Suimono standing behind the counter directing his staff in the chaos of the lunchtime rush. Thanks to Jack being Jack and being taller than over half the people mingling around, it didn't take long for them to be noticed.

"Ah, there you are," Suimono said as a hit a bottom on the cash register, printing out the bill.

Yusei and Crow reached for their wallets, but Jack waved them off. 

"I'll pay this time. Just don't get used to it."

"What? Why didn't you say so sooner? If I knew you'd be paying, I would've gotten more," Crow complained.

"Which is exactly why I didn't mention it."

Crow grinned. "Heh, fair enough."

Suimono handed Jack the bill. He scanned it over, before putting enough money to cover the bill and a nice tip on the counter.

"Thank you for coming by again, Jack." 

"It was a pleasure as always."

Suimono nodded happily before turning to Yusei and Crow. "It was a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure was all ours. It's good to know that Jack had someone looking out for him, even if it was with the occasional ramen," Yusei said, successfully making Suimono laugh.

“We'll be back. I have no idea when, but it will happen!” Crow promised. 

"I'll look forward to it then!" Suimono said with a smile, waving at them until the doors closed behind them.

"That was nice," Yusei said as they unlocked their D-Wheels.

"Yeah, who knew that Jack could have good taste."

"Listen here you-"

Yusei smiled at the familiar scene in front of him. Everything will be just fine. They'll be good and they'll get better. It was only a matter of time.


End file.
